About Prof. Altshuler
Biography
Joseph Altshuler is cofounder of Could Be Design, an award-winning Chicago-based design practice, and an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture. He is also the director of the Architectural Companionship Laboratory, a design research collective that works at the intersection of architecture, public art, creative placemaking, and tactical urbanism. His teaching, practice, and scholarship explore architecture’s capacity to build lively audiences, initiate serious play, and amplify participation in civic life.
Could Be Design’s work has been exhibited at Art Basel | Miami Art Week, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Elmhurst Art Museum, and the Detroit Month of Design. In 2023, Could Be Design was named a contributor to the Chicago Architecture Biennial’s fifth edition, selected as a University Design Research Fellow at Exhibit Columbus, and named one of the six winners of the 2023 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers, awarded by The Architectural League of New York. In 2022, Could Be Design was spotlighted in Metropolis magazine’s “New Talent”feature and named #15 in Newcity magazine’s Design 50: The Fifty People Who Shape Chicago. The practice was also featured in Architect magazine’s “Next Progressives” series.
Joseph’s first book, Creatures Are Stirring: A Guide to Architectural Companionship (Applied Research and Design Publishing, 2022), prompts readers to develop more intimate friendships with architectural companions through a collection of essays, flash fictions, and case studies that illustrate solidarity among humans, nonhumans, buildings, interiors, and the broader environment. Joseph has authored book chapters and contributed essays to a wide range of international publications, and he is the editor-in-chief of SOILED, a periodical of architectural storytelling positioned between a literary journal and a design magazine.
Education
- Master of Architecture, Rice University (2015)
- Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009)